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Title: Wrath of the Great Guilds
Series: Pillars of Reality #6
Author: Jack Campbell
Title: Wrath of the Great Guilds
Series: Pillars of Reality #6
Author: Jack Campbell
Rating: 4 of 5
Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 280
Format: Digital edition
Genre: SFF
Pages: 280
Format: Digital edition
Synopsis: Spoilers!! |
Mari and Alain must face the combined might of both Great Guilds and the Empire in an attempt to stave off the Storm of Destruction prophecied.
Dividing her army in parts, Mari sends
the majority of it to another city and only takes a small force, but
many great arms, with her to Dorcastle. There, she and Alain inspire
the troops, unite the factions and fight off dragons and gatebuster
bombs.
Dorcastle has 7 walls. Mari's forces
are pushed back to the final wall and are about to lose even that
when the other army she had separated out arrives to rescue them,
turn the tide and allow the Daughter of Jules a complete and utter
victory.
Now Mari can allow her world to develop
technologically and the first thing they do is use the world far
speaker they found in an earlier book. And someone answers back.
My Thoughts:
|
Almost all of this book was the battle scene at Dorcastle. Close to 60% is my guess. It was great. Much like Minas Tirath's 7 walls, Dorcastle provides plenty of room for lots of action. Mages and their dragons, Mechanics and their bombs, the Empire and their numberless cohorts, all fodder for the advanced weaponry Mari brings with her. It also showcases how she utilizes Mechanics, Mages and Commons, with all their various strengths and weaknesses. Alain's vision of Mari is constantly at the forefront of his mind and Campbell never lets the reader forget it.
This
is definitely young adult but I did appreciate the fact that Alain
and Mari were married a book or two ago. The romance was there, but
it wasn't angsty, unsure love. It was growing, committed love that
wasn't based just on their feelings.
There
were only 2 things I didn't care for and I knocked off a 1/2star for
each.
First,
Campbell loves big, powerful, DUMB villains. Much like in his Lost
Fleet series, where the 2
“official” sides do the same thing over and over and the main
character Jack “Black” Geary, takes advantage, here we have the
Heads of both the Mage's Guild and the Mechanic's Guild doing the
same thing in the big battle that has NOT worked before against Mari
and Alain. It just made the Guild leaders seem incredibly inept and
stupid and you wonder how someone so dense got to the place of
authority that they are in. Of course, it might have something to do
with Campbell being a retired navy officer and perhaps reflects his
actual experience with higher echelon officers. Pure speculation on
my part though.
Second,
no character development. It has taken me over 25 books of
Campbell/Hemry to realize this (Lost Fleet, Lost
Fleet:Beyond the Frontier, Lost Stars, JAG in Space, Stark's War) so
it kind of came as a shock to really realize that he can't write
growing characters beyond a certain point. It is the kind of writer
he is and he needs to write accordingly. And now that I know this, I
will also adjust my expectations accordingly.
Now I
know I've highlighted the negatives mostly. But obviously, I've stuck
with this 6 book series until the end and given the final book 4
stars. That does say a lot without me having to write a lot. Nothing
in this book is going to make you feel that you wasted your time or
overturn all the good in the previous books. This is a good solid
book to end a good solid YA series.
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